{"id":4989,"date":"2020-05-04T17:55:48","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T17:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmtraining.org\/monitoring-covid-19s-effects-on-family-planning-what-should-we-measure\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:39:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:39:58","slug":"monitoring-covid-19s-effects-on-family-planning-what-should-we-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmtraining.org\/fr\/monitoring-covid-19s-effects-on-family-planning-what-should-we-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"Monitoring COVID-19’s Effects on Family Planning: What Should We Measure?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Why Measure Demand for Family Planning During the COVID-19 Pandemic?<\/h3>\n

First, we must clarify why we need ongoing measurement to better understand demand for family planning. Obviously, the issue is important, as there is extensive research, including our own study released this month<\/a>, documenting the negative health consequences of unintended pregnancy, including risk for maternal and neonatal death. This study among women who had given birth in the past year in Uttar Pradesh, India found that those with an unintended pregnancy were twice as likely to experience pre-eclampsia in pregnancy and post-partum and almost 50% more likely to have experienced post-partum hemorrhage, relative to those reporting a planned pregnancy. While the importance of family planning is widely recognized, we do not understand how the pandemic will exacerbate inequalities in demand and how health and economic fears may affect pregnancy desire and contraceptive preferences. Additionally, not only do the contexts of lockdowns affect women’s ability to obtain and use contraception due to the supply issues noted above, but family influence and control over them may also be greater at this time.<\/p>\n

Globally, we are seeing an increase in reports of domestic violence<\/a> since the establishing of national lockdowns. As social, health, and financial stresses increase as a consequence of the pandemic and lockdowns, we can expect elevation in both the frequency and severity of these abuses. Domestic violence has been associated with greater reproductive control and coercion<\/a> of women and impeding access to and use of contraceptives. Importantly, there is also increasing evidence that women experiencing violence or reproductive coercion\u00a0 are more likely to use women-controlled reversible contraceptives <\/a>(e.g., IUDs), with some findings from ongoing analyses indicating that this is often occurring as covert use. Thus, access to methods such as IUDs, which require little ongoing contact with a provider (apart from addressing potential unwanted side effects), may be particularly useful and preferred by women during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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As we consider how best to monitor and track women\u2019s family planning needs, considerations of violence, reproductive autonomy, and female control of contraceptive methods will be important, emphasizing the need to focus on women\u2019s agency in our measurement. Our conceptualization of women\u2019s agency in health focuses on the Can-Act-Resist<\/em> constructs of agency<\/a>, beginning with an emphasis on women\u2019s choice<\/em> and goals for family planning. In this time of pandemic, where people are feeling less control over their lives, measuring family planning agency is even more important to include in our efforts to monitor demand. Hence, measurement of family planning demand among women should include:<\/p>\n